Gameday blog: Duke at UM

SUN LIFE STADIUM -- The Miami Hurricanes (4-4, 2-3 ACC) welcome the Duke Blue Devils (3-5, 1-3 ACC) for a 3 p.m. kickoff, a game televised on the ACC Network. UM is 7-1 all-time against Duke and hasn't lost to the Blue Devils since 1976. Duke is coming off a 14-10 loss at home to Virginia Tech and has wins over Boston College (20-19), Tulane (48-27) and FIU (31-27).

> ABOUT DUKE: Coach David Cutcliffe has come close to beating UM before. Although UM has won the last four meetings by double digits, 28-13 (2010), 34-16 (2009), 49-31 (2008) and 24-14 (2007), Duke have kept the games relatively tight and came within a Canes goalline interception in 2006 of pulling off an upset. UM won 20-15. This Duke team still has two big playmakers at wide receiver in former Miami Gulliver Prep standouts Conner Vernon (51 catches, 740 yards, 4 TDs) and Donovan Varner (37 catches, 443 yards, 0 TDs). Tight end Cooper Helfet ranks second among ACC tight ends in catches (28 for 276 yards, 2 TDs). Quarterback Sean Renfree has completed 65.7 percent of his passes for 2,004 yards, but also has just 6 TD passes to 7 inteceptions. Defensively, the Blue Devils will often employ an eight-man front to shut down the run. Safety Matt Daniels is their big playmaker. He leads the team with 82 tackles (26 more than the second person on the list) and has 2 INTs and 13 pass breakups (more than UM's entire secondary, 8). Duke is among the best teams in the country in kickoff return defense (5th overall), allowing just 17.19 yards a return. But they rank 66th in punt coverage (7.67 yards per return). Kicker Will Snyderwine is 7 of 14 on field goal attempts.

> WHAT TO WATCH FOR THE CANES: Redshirt freshman Jonathan Feliciano is expected to make his return to the starting lineup at right tackle, which should help UM's running game which has sputtered over the last three games. Receiver Tommy Streeter, who was apparently took a cleat to the top of his left foot on Wednesday during practice, has 14 receptions for 347 yards and 3 TDs over his last three games. With 45 more receiving yards, Travis Benjamin will become just the sixth player in program history to reach the 2,000 yard plateau -- joining Santana Moss, Reggie Wayne, Michael Irvin, Lamar Thomas and Leonard Hankerson. Defensively, the Hurricanes will look to rebound after a deflating performance against Virginia. The Canes gave up six plays of 20 yards or more in the loss including three TD passes of 37 yards or more. Look for Duke to try and expose UM's struggling safeties with playaction, especially when Ray-Ray Armstrong and Vaughn Telemaque are in the game together. UM's pass defense ranks 102nd in efficiency and has surrendered 12 touchdown passes already with only four interceptions. Kicker Jake Wieclaw has either missed a field goal or had one blocked in each of his last two games.

> MANNY'S PICK: UM 33, Duke 21. Canes offense hasn't played well over the last 10 quarters, struggling in the red zone and in short-yardage situations and relying too much on Touchdown Tommy Streeter to make the big catch. Defensively, the Canes have also given up too many long pass plays and looked bad in coverage. Duke is well coached enough to expose all of those areas and upset the Canes the way Virginia did. But UM is the better team and this week Al Golden has scared them enough to make them act like it.